John 12: 20-33 Note: At 2:19, ten seconds of audio was lost due to a technical problem during the live recording. Melissa Florer-Bixler preaches on a time in Jesus’ life where there is no time left for ministry, but only to speak to those present of his imminent demise and fulfillment of God’s plan. The […]
Melissa Florer-Bixler
The Difference Between Snakes Sent and Snakes Let Go – March 10, 2024
Numbers 21: 4-9 John 3: 14-21 Our perspective on the trials and tribulations of life can have a profound effect and how we formulate our understanding of God’s character and our own place and purpose in God’s creation. Melissa Florer-Bixler preaches on the long and arduous Exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt and how […]
The Temple is a Home – Mar. 3, 2024
John2: 13-22 Melissa Florer-Bixler preached on the cleansing of the Temple by Jesus. From this gospel we learn that the existence of an economy for selling sacrificial animals and exchanging currency was not what angered Jesus, being necessary for travelers to participate in rituals, but rather the proximity of these activities, within the holy space […]
Stumbling Toward the Promised Land – Feb. 25, 2024
On this second Sunday in Lent, Melissa preached from Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 and Romans 4:13-25, focusing on the story of Abram. Way before Moses gives those laws on the tablets, Abram is righteous before there’s a temple to sacrifice things in. Even before circumcision. And that’s really important, especially for us, because most of us […]
Prayer: An Invitation for God to Dwell Within Us – Feb. 11, 2024
Mark 9: 2-9 What will we do when we meet God? Will we run away? Cower? Ask questions? Or can we make a tent for God to inhabit and live among us? Melissa Florer-Bixler explores and unpacks the experience of Peter meeting God in the story of the transfiguration of Christ in the Gospel of […]
Learning to be Free – Feb. 4, 2024
I Corinthians 9:16-23 Paul descended into the laboring class rather than being paid for his ministry. That way he was able to be free from the patronage of the wealthy people of Corinth and others. There was something more significant in his life. He had been found by Jesus and this good news. The spirit […]
Two Things Can Be True : It’s Complicated – Jan. 28 2024
Scripture 1 Corinthians 8: 1-13 How do we conduct our lives as believers when our decisions affect not only ourselves, but can cause harm or distress to other Christians or those in other communities around us? What do we do when our choices are technically righteous, but still harm other believers with a different interpretation? […]
Shepherding us Sheep – Jan. 21, 2024
Scripture: John 10:14-15 Each year, Anabaptist-related churches around the world are encouraged to worship around a common theme on a Sunday close to January 21. On that date in 1525, the first Anabaptist baptism took place in Zurich, Switzerland. Anabaptist World Fellowship Sunday provides an opportunity to remember our common roots and celebrate our worldwide koinonia. Today […]
Who I am not – Dec. 17, 2023
John 1:6-8, 19-28 and Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 On this third Sunday of Advent, Melissa shared about a list of “I am nots” that she made this week. John the Baptist knew who he was not, and who he was. Think about (or make) your own lists of “I am nots.” How does that sentence end? […]
Reorienting Time – Dec. 10, 2023
Mark 1:1-8 and Isaiah 40:1-11 On this second Sunday of Advent, Melissa reflects on our relentless focus on time; our need for efficiency. Time is invented; we made it up. Advent invites us into a different pace of time, a pace we call “Waiting.” Time’s first purpose was to be loved by God.
Leaning into Fear – Dec. 3, 2023
Isaiah 64:1-9 On this first Sunday of Advent, Melissa acknowledged that there is so much in our lives, in our world, to be afraid of. We are not in control of the world. We are vulnerable beyond our imagining. Somehow though, God is at work in this Apocalypse. She told the story, among others, of […]
The Terrible Parable – Nov. 19, 2023
Melissa’s sermon focused on Matthew 25: 14-30, the Parable of the Talents. This passage has often been used to justify a variety of teaching praising rampant capitalism or aggressive evangelization and placing God in the role of the master who casts out the lazy slave into darkness for burying the talent he should have invested. […]
Staying Awake, Pouring Out Hope – Nov. 12, 2023
Melissa’s sermon this Sunday focused on the parable from Matthew 25:1-13 about the bridesmaids waiting for the long-delayed bridal party, with all of them falling asleep and half of them running out of lamp oil. Jackie and Trixie provided a reenactment of how things maybe could have gone better had they stayed awake. What might […]
Martyrs on All Saints Day – Nov. 5, 2023
Revelation 7:9-17 The great ordeal John writes of in this letter from exile in Patmos is the persecution of the church. It’s a real and living threat to Christians in the first century. If you were to join up with the Anabaptists in the sixteenth century, there was a very good chance this would get […]
Quenching our thirst – Oct. 1, 2023
Exodus 17:1-7 & Matthew 21:23-32, World Communion Sunday “Is God here?” is a question that comes up throughout the Bible. And it has come up for many of us. But maybe there’s another question lingering in the lines between the lines of the scripture. Maybe it begins by saying, “What is that I need?” If […]
Worship Declares God’s Truth About Hierarchies- Sept. 10, 2023
In the third sermon on the theme of “What is church for?”, Melissa talked about God’s countercultural vision of hierarchy demonstrated by Paul’s body metaphor in 1 Corinthians 12: 14-31. Since antiquity, the institutions of government and the economy have a distinct continuity: they have created social, political, and economic hierarchies that we have often […]
Redistributive Justice – Sept. 3, 2023
In the second sermon on the theme of “What is church for?”, Melissa talked about stewardship, speaking from Acts 2:38-47. She shared the story of the Diggers. Every once in a while Christians begin to live so near to the life of Jesus, so deeply in tune with the Spirit of God at such a […]
Extravagant abundance – Aug. 27, 2023
John 2:1-12 This Sunday Melissa begins a three-part series on the question: What is the Church For? The miracle at the wedding of Cana seems like a superfluous act on the part of Jesus. There’s nothing practical or useful about the sign. Jesus doesn’t cure disease, raise a person from the dead or feed hungry […]
Creation Care – June 11, 2023
Melissa kicked off a summer series focusing on creation care. Over the course of the summer we will hear the story of creation from Genesis from nine different preachers. She started us off, combining it with the passage from Colossians 1:15-20. Another aspect of the series this summer is captured in this web page, suggesting […]
Spirit Empowered Community – May 28, 2023
Scripture: John 20:19-23; Acts 2:1-21 On this Pentecost Sunday we also celebrated the birthday of Raleigh Mennonite and the annual renewal of our covenant together. We take time to remember that we’ve said “yes” to showing up for one another. There’s no rule book for how to do this. The only tools we’re given to […]
Abiding – May 14, 2023
This was a unique Sunday when Raleigh Mennonite joined St. Ambrose Episcopal for a joint worship service in St. Ambrose’s sanctuary. Father Jemonde Taylor and Pastor Melissa Florer-Bixler brought a dialogical sermon from the gospel reading in John 14:15-21. During Lent the choirs from both churches joined together to learn about and sing songs from […]
We are Bread – April 23, 2023
Melissa preached from Luke 24:13-35 on this third Sunday of Easter. Bread weaves a thread through the pages of scripture. Bread is a character in our salvation story. Even though they had talked at length with this stranger, it wasn’t until the two traveling on the road to Emmaus sat and broke bread with Jesus […]
While it was still dark – April 9, 2023
On this Easter morning Melissa preached from John 20:1-18. Early on the first morning, while it was still dark, there was sweat and adrenaline and weeping. It has been three days since the crucifixion. Three days since they took his body down from the cross, and sealed it inside a cave with a massive boulder. […]
Dangerous Parties – April 2, 2023
Melissa spoke from Matthew 21:1-11 on this Palm Sunday. She shared the story of one of her favorite parties she has been a part of, when women were released from jail after their bond was paid by members of SONG. “When I see the women with radiant faces celebrating their freedom, I am there with […]